BEMIDJI, Minn. (Sept. 3, 2010) — The word “home” can have any number of meanings – a building, a five-sided rubber slab forming the keystone of a baseball diamond, a place to feel safe and secure. The varied meanings of the word “home” are the inspiration for “Order/Disorder,” an exhibition of abstract paintings by Kari Lennartson that will open next week at Bemidji State University.

Lennartson, who teaches painting at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., will have her work on display at the University’s Talley Gallery beginning Wednesday, Sept. 8 and running through Oct. 13.

“Order/Disorder” will feature a collection of Lennartson’s abstract paintings that thematically circle around the multiple meanings of the word “home.” She makes use of surface textures and the interplay of color, line and value through acrylic paints and mixed media including charcoal, pastels, colored pencils, cattle markers, graphite and collage elements.

“The word ‘home’ is used to indicate a wide range of meanings, from physical — architecture, structure, landscape, locale and place — to conceptual — safety, love, belonging, comfort,” Lennartson said. “Only in the languages of northern Europe does a single word bear such frieght of significance. The architectural forms that occur repeatedly throughout my paintings explore these possibilities.”

Lennartson was born in Hallock, Minn., and received her bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and a master of fine arts from Colorado State University. Lennartson has traveled extensively in Scandanavia and has studied Swedish art history at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.

An opening reception for the show will be held in the gallery beginning at noon on Sept. 8, and Lennartson will give a gallery talk about her paintings and her creative process later that day at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Located in room 212 of the Education Arts building on the campus of Bemidji State University, the Talley Gallery is barrier-free and open at no charge to the public. All activities in the Talley Gallery are supported by the University’s Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee. The gallery will be open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, for the June 7-July 2 exhibition. For the Aug. 23-Sept. 3 exhibition, gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.